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diff --git a/78628-0.txt b/78628-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3564899 --- /dev/null +++ b/78628-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,926 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78628 *** + + ACCORDING TO NG LOY + + W. C. Tuttle + + Author of “Blind Trails,” “Reputation,” etc. + + +Fate is a queer dealer in the game of life; a dealer whose sense of +humor is not hampered by the grim play of put-and-take. It is not always +a square deal. Fate knows how to stack the cards, and many a pat-hand is +beaten by a four-card draw. + +But Fate never dealt a worse assorted trio than it handed to Trinity +Creek. An Irishman, a Swede and a Chinaman. Three court-cards that +never belonged in the deck. + +Ng Loy, the Chinaman, came first. Loy was very old. He had come from +Seattle in the gold rush; a little, round-shouldered Celestial, wrinkled +of face, but with the heart of an Argonaut. For a number of years he had +clawed over deserted placer dumps; gleaning what gold had escaped the +hurried sluicing, but now he had accumulated a grub-stake and penetrated +to Trinity Creek--far from humanity. + +Lars Anderson and Jimmy Mulcahy were partners. Wherever a strike was +reported--there you would find them. Lars was a huge figure of a man, +mustached like a Viking, slow of thought, slow of action. He growled +in his throat like a grizzly bear, drank whisky like men drink water +and was as superstitious as a voodoo worshipper. + +Jimmy Mulcahy was a trifle smaller than Lars, typically Irish, and, if +such a thing were possible, more superstitious. + +Lars and Jimmy had been thawing gravel across the range from Trinity +Creek; overstaying their grub-stake in hopes of uncovering some rich +streak--which did not appear. The lack of food did not disturb them, +because of the fact that they had made a grub-cache a few months +before at a spot about fifty miles away, and this would suffice to +take them back to an outfitting post. + +But two days before they were ready to leave their diggings the +Winter moved in upon them; a howling, swirling blizzard, in which +the temperature tumbled downward until the fir-trees snapped like +fire-crackers and the dirt floor of their cabin frosted to within +inches of the rough fireplace. + +Day after day it screamed and tore at the little cabin, while Lars and +Jimmy humped beside the fire, swathed in blankets, watched their food +supply dwindle to a mere handful of beans and a piece of bacon the size +of a walnut. + +“Christmas daisy, and wouldn’t ye think it would blow itself out?” +queried Jimmy. “Sure, there must be a tail-ind to it somewhere, Lars.” + +“Ay guess she’s de round vind,” said Lars hopelessly. “She goes round +and round, all de time. Bot den, of course, she’ll vare out sometime, +Yimmy.” + +“And we’ll be a fine pair of hunks o’ ice. If ye stop breathin’ for a +minute ye can feel yerself harden. Why in the ---- didn’t we mush out +a week ago, I dunno?” + +“If Ay ever get out of hare--ba gosh, Yimmy; how you like for feel de +hot stove and de hot whisky. _Skoal!_” + +Lars shook his head sadly. “Ay guess dis be de finish for us.” + +Jimmy threw back his blanket and got to his feet. + +“Finish, ye say? Ye cock-eyed Swede, are ye quittin’? Are ye goin’ to +let a bit of a blow and a handful of snow make ye lie down and die?” + +Lars got heavily to his feet and began folding his blanket. + +“Ay guess we go now, eh, Yimmy? Ho, ho, ho, ho! Ve bite holes in de +vind, eh? We find de grub-cache and mush to Dugout City. Ho, ho, ho! +Ay am de cock-eyed Svede and you are de crazy Irishman. Fifty mile to +de grub.” + +“If we have any luck,” muttered Jimmy, “We’ve got to have a little +luck.” + +“By gosh, you bet. Bot den of course at de same time, ve need +even-break. Come on, vild Irishman.” + +There were no preparations to make; nothing to take with them, except +their blankets. The blizzard whipped into them and the snow particles +stung and cut like ground glass, but they headed into it, traveling in +single file that they might not lose each other. + +Straight over the divide they struggled; two men who looked like shadows +in that gray whirl of the elements. But even the long climb did not warm +their blood. There were no landmarks to follow. Everything was blotted +out at a few feet distance and they did not realize that they had +crossed the divide until the mountain sloped downward again. + +And here a new trouble assailed them. The ice-like snow had gnawed the +lacing of their snow-shoes into shreds, and the crust was not strong +enough to hold them up without the shoes. There was no chance to repair +them; so they went blindly on. + +Mile after mile they floundered down the timbered slopes, praying for +a break in the gray shroud that they might get their bearings; but the +break would not come. + +Night overtook them, but they went on. It was their only hope. Neither +of them knew where they were, nor in which direction lay the cache, but +they were trusting to luck to carry them through. + +It was a hundred miles from the cache to Dugout City, they had +estimated, and the cache would furnish them plenty of food for the +hundred mile trip. + +Then the last strands of Jimmy’s snow-shoes parted. Lars’ shoes were +only good for a short distance more, and there were many miles of snow +ahead of them. + +And, as if in celebration of this last misfortune, the blizzard took +on a new lease of life and fairly blotted them out in a maelstrom of +whirling snow. Gone was all sense of direction, but they went on. +Lars’ snow-shoe webs parted company with the bows, but he floundered +on, with Jimmy following him blindly. + +There was no chance for conversation. It was merely a case of flounder +ahead, fall down, get up and keep going. And it was thus that Fate +drove them almost into the snow-piled side of Ng Loy’s little cabin at +the forks of Trinity Creek. + +If the cabin had been a hundred feet farther on, Ng Loy would, in all +probabilities, have found them in the Spring, when the snow went off +for its short vacation from Trinity Creek. + +But Fate caused them fairly to collide with the side of the cabin--or +rather the roof, because the snow was piled high about Loy’s +habitation--and he found them just in time. + + * * * * * + +It was several hours later that Jimmy awoke, swathed in blankets, in +a warm cabin, and to his nostrils came the savory odor of simmering +mulligan. Slowly he emerged from his blankets--his head did--and he +looked straight at the wrinkled little Chinaman--who was watching +him. + +Jimmy’s face was raw from the frost and he ached in every muscle and +joint, but his eye was clear. There was frank amusement on his face +and his voice was husky as he said-- + +“Sure now, and where is Saint Peter?” + +“No sabe.” The old Chinaman shook his head. “Why fo’ yo’ want him?” + +“I’ve got to find him,” Jimmy shook his head slowly. “I’ve no doubt he +mistook me nationality and sint me to a Chinese heaven, don’t ye see?” + +Loy’s wrinkled face broke into a grin. He was not without his sense of +humor and he knew what Jimmy meant. + +“This no be heaven. This Tlinity Cleek, yo’ sabe?” + +“I’ve no doubt ye think that, me friend,” said Jimmy seriously, “but +it’s the nearest thing to heaven I’ve ever seen. Is me pardner no worse +than I am?” + +“No much bad. Pletty bad sto’m. I hear you bump my li’l cabin.” + +“Pretty bad storm! Sure, I hope I niver see a worse. Hey! Lars! You +cock-eyed Swede, wake up, will ye?” + +Came a movement under the Swede’s blankets and his face emerged. He +stared at Loy in a stolid sort of a way; blinking his eyes wonderingly. +Then he caught sight of Jimmy. + +“Halo dere! Where in de ---- are ve, Yimmy?” + +“Right here, Lars,” Jimmy laughed joyfully. “We bumped into the +Chinaman’s cabin and he hauled us inside.” + +“By yee, dat was close call!” + +The Swede grimaced with pain from his frost-bites and sniffed audibly. + +“Yo’ lik’ soup?” grinned Loy, pointing at the black kettle. “Li’l piece +car-boo, some onion, potato--ver’ nice.” + +Jimmy started to struggle out of his blankets, but the Chinaman stopped +him. + +“Yo’ stay in bed. Long time yo’ ve’y sore; yo’ _sabe_? I bling soup. +Li’l bit now, li’l bit bimeby. Yo’ too hungly.” + +“You been assayin’ me while I was asleep,” complained Jimmy. “Nobody +could tell I was too hungry. And it’s a lucky thing ye had plenty of +blankets.” + +Ng Loy nodded quickly. + +“Yessah. Need plenty blanket. Chinaman get old, get ve’y chilly. I buy +some blanket, trade fo’ some blanket, yo’ sabe? Bimeby I have plenty +blanket--jus’ right.” + +Ng Loy brought them tin cups of the hot mulligan. It warmed them up +and put new life into their bodies. They begged for more, but Loy was +adamant. + +“No can do. I sabe yo’ ve’y hungly--too hungly. Bimeby I give yo’ mo’. +Too much now--plenty sick.” + +“I niver thought that a Chinaman could keep me from me food,” wailed +Jimmy, “but I suppose I’ve got to keep me timper. What’s your name?” + +“My name Ng Loy.” + +“Thasso? And how do ye spell the first half of it?” + +“How spell. Jus’ same like N.G. Make sound ‘Ing.’” + +“Now, who the ---- iver gave ye that name. N.G., is it? Ye are not! In +this country, Loy, they say anythin’ is N.G., when it’s no good.” + +“Mebbe so Ng Loy no good.” + +“The ---- ye say! Not to me they don’t say it.” + +Loy smiled softly and stirred the soup. + +“Ay know how das happen--” Lars shook the blankets off his head--“over +in das China country they read and write everyt’ing oopside down und +backvards, Yimmy.” + +“Sure, and that’s a fact, Lars. He’s N.G., with the reverse-English. +Whin do we eat agin’, Loy?” + +“Bimeby.” + +Loy’s cabin was very small, with a big fireplace which warmed it well. +There were two bunks built into the sides of the cabin, the rear of +which was piled high with wood. There was little room to move about, +and the furniture consisted of a small, crudely-built table and one +chair. + +“You minin’, Loy?” asked Jimmy. + +“Yessah, li’l bit mine. I come hea’ las’ Summa. Cabin not much good, I +fix up nice. I got mine claim hea’.” + +“Show anythin’, Loy?” + +“Pletty good show. Splingtime, I make money. Where you flom?” + +Jimmy tried to explain the location of their cabin, but Ng Loy had never +crossed the divide. + +“Yo’ locate hea’?” he asked. + +Jimmy grinned and looked across at Lars. It was a novelty to find a +miner who was willing to divulge the fact that there was pay-dirt in +sight. + +“I dunno,” Jimmy shook his head. + +“Two fork hea’,” explained Ng Loy, holding out his hand, with two +fingers spread. + +“I plospect plenty, but nobody dig hea’. Mebbeso one fork have +pay-stleak, mebbe so two fork. You tly. I catchum gold my claim. Gold +come down stleam, I t’ink.” + +“You want us to locate on the forks?” queried Jimmy. + +“Yessah. Be good, I t’ink. Claim below me, mebbeso good. Nobody tly.” + +“Well,” Jimmy settled back on his blankets, “you come near bein’ plumb +white, Loy. We’ll outfit and come back.” + +“Ay t’ink ve bane lucky,” observed Lars thoughtfully. + +“Luck?” Ng Loy smiled softly. “Yes-s-s, luck.” + +He stepped over to the table and picked up a little white object, +holding it in his open palm. + +“This is luck,” he said slowly. “Today I make an old Chinese prayer to +the white elephant. It was for evelybody in storm; yo’ _sabe_?” + +“Ye say ye did?” Jimmy’s eyes gleamed with interest. “What did ye say +the thing is?” + +Ng Loy held it out in his hand--a little, carved ivory elephant. + +“And ye prayed to it?” + +“Yes. Li’l white elephant of old China. Good luck.” + +“Ay betcha das right,” nodded Lars solemnly. “Somet’ing bring us hare, +Yimmy.” + +“By golly, that looks like good luck,” breathed Jimmy. “The white +elephant brought us out of the snow.” + +“It is more than good luck,” said Ng Loy slowly and in perfectly good +English. “The owner will in some way bring happiness to others. Good +luck and happiness.” + +“Some elephant!” exclaimed Jimmy. “By golly, I’d like to have one.” + +“Ay like dat, too,” nodded Lars. + +Ng Loy smiled and placed it on the table. “Mebbeso bling good luck to +all.” + +“Why do you speak good English sometimes and then pidgin-English, Loy?” +asked Jimmy. + +“I fo’get,” smiled Loy. “I been this country long time. I study English +to talk like American. Sometimes I no can do--like now; yo’ sabe?” + +“Like I mix in Irish brogue, I reckon,” smiled Jimmy. “But when do we +eat agin’, Loy?” + + * * * * * + +Two days later Lars and Jimmy started for Dugout City after grub. The +storm had broken the night they arrived at Ng Loy’s place. Ng Loy had +two pairs of old snow-shoes, which they patched up with rawhide strips. + +Much to their amazement Loy handed them a poke of gold to pay for the +food. + +“We are partners,” he declared and refused to take back the money. Then +he gave them the white elephant. + +“Long ways to go,” he declared. “Mebbe so big snow come--yo’ need luck. +White elephant bling yo’ back to Ng Loy.” + +“By ----, you’re a white man!” blurted Jimmy. “We’ll sure come back, +partner.” + +And it was three days later that they arrived at Dugout City, after a +hard trip. Dugout consisted of a few log cabins, almost buried under +the drifts, where the inhabitants holed up for the long Winter, with +nothing to do but to eat, sleep, drink and gamble. + +One building was used as a store. It was well stocked with supplies, but +prices were almost prohibitive. Dugout City welcomed Jimmy and Lars with +open arms. Any strange face was welcome in Dugout City in Winter. + +It was the one community center in all that vast district, and the +meeting place for all the sour-doughs for miles around. Jimmy and Lars +bought their supplies first and became sociable afterward. + +Ng Loy’s poke of gold was lighter by half when the purchases were over, +but that lighter half was enough for their amusement and comfort. + +The saloon was a small cabin, unventilated, where the miners crowded in +until there was hardly room for the short bar and the one roulette +wheel. Even the poker-table occupied so much room that it was advisable +to shove one side of it against the wall, so cutting down the possible +number of players by at least two. + +In there was the reek of stale liquor, the stifling smoke from many +strong pipes, and the varied smells of humanity; but to Jimmy and Lars +it meant liquor and cards, something which had been denied them for a +long time. + +There was a vacant seat at the poker-table and room for another at the +whirling roulette wheel. Lars settled heavily into the poker-seat, while +Jimmy looked on and grinned. + +And twenty-four hours later, Lars and Jimmy walked out into the +below-zero air, with the accumulated wealth of Dugout City in their +sagging pockets. + +Their luck had been phenomenal. Dugout City was broke, and it would be +many moons before there would be enough gold in the camp to pull off a +decent-sized poker-game. Neither Jimmy nor Lars were gamblers. It was +just simple, unadulterated luck--and they knew it. + +They not only had all the gold of the camp, but Jimmy had won a dog-team +from “Mukluk John,” a well-known musher. They had snow-shoed in with Ng +Loy’s gold, bought a grub-stake and were going back in dog-team style, +with their pockets lined with gold. + +As they started to pack their grub on the sled, Lars grunted and +straightened up as if with a sudden idea. + +“What is it, Lars?” queried Jimmy, looking back. + +“Ay just remember, Yimmy. All das luck.” + +“That white elephant?” exploded Jimmy, searching frantically through his +pockets and finding it in the last one to be searched. + +“Ay tank das bane luck,” declared Lars, grinning widely. + +“Jist as sure as there’s a banshee in Ireland.” + +“Ay forgot it.” Lars was almost apologetic. + +“Sure ye did--and so did I. But the elephant didn’t forget, Lars. We’re +lucky ----, so we are.” + +The weather held fine for their homeward journey and Ng Loy welcomed +them with a smile and a mulligan stew. He listened closely while +they told of their good luck and gazed in amazement at the gold they +brought back with them. He fondled the little elephant for a while, +but placed it back in the center of the table. + +“Plenty good luck for t’lee,” he declared. “Bling plenty happiness +sometimes--I hope.” + +Lars and Jimmy had been inseparable for years, and now it looked as if +Ng Loy was going to make the third member of the team. + +“We’re a fine layout,” declared Jimmy. “A Chink, a Swede and a Mick. +Sure it’s a ----’s own mess and there’s little choice I’m thinkin’.” + +“Perhaps it is the will of the gods,” smiled Loy. + +“That’s right, Loy; blame it on the gods. Why don’t ye blame some of it +on the elephant?” + +“Ah, yes, perhaps.” + +“Ay tank you better not speak bad of de elephant,” warned Lars. + +“Nor of the gods either, I’m thinkin’,” grinned Jimmy. + +“Do you believe in gods?” queried Loy. + +“Jist one,” said Jimmy seriously. “Lars had a lot of ’em. Get him drunk +and he rumbles about a feller named Thor. Loy, that cock-eyed Swede +thinks that a feller by the name of Erickson discovered this country.” + +Loy smiled softly and put more wood on the fire. + +“We all must have some gods,” he said. “Something to look up to. It is +not good to look down all the time.” + +“I s’pose. What is your idea of heaven, Loy?” + +“Friendship.” + +“Friendship, eh? Sure, that’s a queer idea. And what do ye think is hell +like?” + +“Losing that friendship.” + +Jimmy laughed and sucked on his old pipe. It was a new angle with him. + +“There is little worth while, except love and friendship.” Ng Loy was +speaking good English now and was very thoughtful. “Love and friendship +smooth the paths of life. Lose love and friendship and the path becomes +very rough. If you love everybody, the world is filled with flowers and +the song of birds; if you hate everybody, the world is dark, there are +no flowers, except those of cruel thorns, and the song of the birds is +like the croaking of buzzards.” + +“Yes, that’s right,” admitted Jimmy. “You talk like a man who knows, +Loy. Have you ever hated?” + +“Yes, I have loved and hated, my friend. Ng Loy is very old in years and +old in experience. Some day I will not be here. You wonder why I dig for +gold? You wonder why I want much gold, when I will not be here long? + +“You smile when I tell you that I wish to die in my own land. The Ng +family are very old in China, and it is my wish to have my bones beside +that of my ancestors. Queer, is it not?” + +“I’ve heard of it,” nodded Jimmy. “Somethin’ about the rest of the +family bein’ disgraced if ye don’t hole up with ’em. Is that it?” + +“That is near enough. There are things that would sound queer to you, +but to me they are not queer. I am of a different race and my thoughts +are not your thoughts.” + +“That’s right,” Jimmy agreed quickly. “Now you take this Swede pardner +of ours, Loy. He sees things different than we do.” + +“Ay betcha,” nodded Lars sleepily. “Ay am Swede--de best peoples in de +vorld.” + +“Bunch of white-haired snuff makers!” snorted Jimmy. “Let’s go to bed.” + +And contrary to general belief, these three men remained friends, even +though confined to the one cabin during those long Winter days. While +the blizzard howled across the Trinity and the world seemed a smother of +snow, the two white men sat and listened to the philosophy of Ng Loy, or +argued questions which neither knew anything about. + +Then came a day when the warmer winds moaned in the tall trees and the +huge drifts moved jerkily, as if some giant were moving under his +monster counterpane. The Chinook was at Trinity Creek. The huge slides +rumbled down the steep mountains and the water hissed down the forks of +the creek, past the cabin, as if trying to make up for the time lost in +Winter. + +The landscape changed hourly. Bushes, held down by a weight of snow, +snapped upright like a jack-in-a-box; the jack-pines shook away their +covering and stood forth in black blotches, where had been only a white +expanse; and here and there ledges of rock appeared, as if looking out +to see what had happened to the world during the Winter. + +Lars and Jimmy located on the west fork of the creek and included Ng +Loy’s name in their notice. It was still too early for active operations +as the ground was frozen too hard; so they began enlarging Loy’s cabin, +making it big enough for all three. + +Then came another storm and more freezing weather, as if the elements +were only joking and had no intentions of letting Spring hold sway for +a long time to come. + +“Sure, and it may be a good omen,” declared Jimmy. “It strikes me that +this would be a good time to make a trip to Dugout City and bring in +more grub. It will be harder when the snow is gone and we can’t use the +dogs.” + +“Ay betcha das good idea,” agreed Lars. “Ve go now, because dis not last +long.” + +Ng Loy agreed that this would be an opportune time; so the next morning +Jimmy and Lars pulled out of Trinity Creek and drove straight for Dugout +City. There was no talk of drinking nor gambling this trip. + +Dugout City was in the throes of Spring outfitting and had no time for +games. The Winter was about over and the prospectors were hurrying to +break ground as early as possible. + +Jimmy and Lars outfitted quickly, swung their team around and headed +north. There was a soft feeling in the air and they did not want to +run into a Chinook, which would make snow-shoeing and sledging almost +impossible as the snow packs quickly. + +On the sixth day after their departure from Trinity Creek they were +back again. The last few miles were made over a wet snow and they +entered the cabin just ahead of a rain storm, which cut the snow and +ice like a knife. + +Ng Loy seemed very grave, as Jimmy enumerated what they had brought +back. + +“We’re all set for a big season, Loy. We’ll take out a lot of money, old +timer.” + +“Yes, my friend. Did you bring the elephant safely back home?” + +“The elephant?” Jimmy scratched his head wonderingly. “Why, I didn’t +have no elephant, Loy.” + +Jimmy turned and looked at Lars, who was pulling off his boots. Lars +gawped open-mouthed at Loy. + +Loy smiled depreciatingly. + +“It is no matter, my friends. Let us forget it.” + +“Huh!” + +Jimmy snorted and searched the table-top, on which a flea could not have +hidden itself. + +“No, it is not there,” said Ng Loy. “It was gone after you left. But it +doesn’t matter.” + +Lars said nothing, but his beetling eyebrows seemed to draw down over +his deep-set eyes, as if unable to think beyond a certain point. +Jimmy’s mouth lost its habitual grin and the muscles of his jaw bulged +as he gripped his pipe-stem. Ng Loy laughed and joked incessantly, but +his words were lost on his hearers. + +Suddenly Jimmy got to his feet and walked over to where Lars was sitting +on the edge of a bunk. + +“Now, you ---- cock-eyed Swede, give up that elephant!” + +Lars peered at him, his mouth twisting nervously. + +“Give it up, you thief!” roared Jimmy. + +“Ay give up not’ing!” + +Lars heaved his huge bulk off the bunk, only to jerk back from Jimmy’s +smashing blow which caught him on the side of the head. + +“Tryin’ to hog the luck, were ye!” growled Jimmy. + +But Lars did not speak. He swung forward, hunched low and smashed at +Jimmy with both hands. Lars was slow, awkward, but his blows were like +the smashing of a pile-driver weight. + +Back and forth across the little cabin they surged, smashing, cursing, +growling like grizzlies. Both men were getting badly hurt. Neither used +any science; only brute strength. There was no blocking of blows. Every +punch went straight to its mark unhampered. + +The walls, the blankets were spattered with gore. Loy begged and pleaded +with them to stop, but his words fell on deaf ears. He finally climbed +to the top of a bunk, where he crouched like an idol, but winced every +time a smashing blow found its mark. + +Flesh and blood could not stand such punishment for a great length +of time. Both men were blinded, choked with blood, until their blows +flailed into empty air and they went down on their knees, still +striking, mouthing curses. + +Lars toppled over and was still, while Jimmy rested on his side, propped +up on one elbow, blind as a bat, but still anxious to fight. Loy bathed +their heads and bound up their cuts, and they endured it in silence. + +“Be friends,” begged Loy. “It was nothing to fight over.” + +But neither man would speak to the other. Their fight had proved +nothing; given neither any satisfaction. Loy pointed out this fact, +but neither man would agree. All Jimmy would say was-- + +“I’ll never speak to that cock-eyed thief agin’!” + +“Ay hope you never speak,” said Lars through swollen lips. “Bot at de +same time, if you do, I not speak back.” + +And thus ended the partnership of Lars and Jimmy. After years of sharing +the same blanket, going through thick and thin, fighting each other’s +battles--they broke friendship over a little elephant carved from yellow +ivory. + +And a sadness of heart drove the smiles from Ng Loy’s wrinkled face. +Lars gloomed by himself; a great brooding figure, who spoke rarely. +Jimmy lost his optimistic outlook upon life, and blamed it all upon +the sinister influence of the little elephant. + +Spring came in earnest and the warm weather thawed deep into the earth. +Lars packed up his part of the food, strapped it on his back and went up +the east fork of the creek, went away without explanation or a good-by +to any one. + +Ng Loy shook his head sadly and watched Jimmy take his pack and head +for the claim on west fork. It was the parting of the ways for Jimmy +and Lars. Ng Loy went back to work on his crude sluice-boxes, tearing +with weak efforts into the gravel, to get enough money to enable his +old bones to lie beside those of his ancestors. + +It was a month later that Jimmy came down to see Ng Loy. They talked +little as they smoked in the doorway of the little cabin, but before +Jimmy departed he laid a heavy poke of gold on the table. + +“You split it three ways, Loy.” + +“T’lee ways, Jimmy?” + +“Sure. A third belongs to you and a third to----” + +Jimmy jerked his thumb toward the east fork mountains. + +“Mebbe so he not come back.” + +“Ah, ye bet he’ll come back, Loy. He knows that I’m honest and he’ll +come back to git his share. See ye later, Loy.” + +Loy stood in the doorway and watched Jimmy disappear in the timber. +Loy knew that deep in Jimmy’s heart was a dead, dull ache for the +companionship of his old partner. + +“Friendship is heaven,” mused Loy sadly. “Perhaps they did not believe +Ng Loy’s creed. It was heaven for Ng Loy, too; but it is heaven no +longer.” + +Two weeks later Lars mushed in, with the muck of the creek on his +clothes. His face appeared drawn and tired and there was a hunch to +his big frame that had not been there before. + +“Ay locate on small creek,” he told Loy slowly, “and Ay cut de +pay-streak. Hare--” he tossed a poke onto the table--“you divide, Loy. +Ay locate you and Yimmy on de claim.” + +Loy smiled softly. He knew that the slow-moving Swede was eating his +heart out for the companionship of Jimmy, but was too bull-headed +even to admit it to himself. He told Lars about Jimmy bringing in his +clean-up, and gave Lars his share of the gold. + +Lars squinted over it, like a huge ape which had found something he did +not understand. Then he stowed it away inside his shirt and went back up +the creek. Loy smiled and went back to his work. + +A week later Jimmy came down to see him, and sat down beside Loy who was +stripping a small piece of bed-rock. + +“I kinda got pleurisy,” explained Jimmy, “so I knocked off work for the +day. Loy, I ain’t been feelin’ well for a week.” + +Loy took him up to the cabin and gave him his share of Lars’ gold. + +“I’ll not take it!” exploded the Irishman. “I’ll not soil me hands with +that cock-eyed Swede’s gold.” + +“He took his share of your gold,” said Loy. + +“He would. He’d take everythin’ that ain’t nailed down.” + +Loy said nothing, but puttered around, getting a meal. + +“Ye told us about that elephant once,” said Jimmy thoughtfully. “What +was it ye said about it bringin’ happiness, Loy?” + +Loy smiled softly and shook his head. + +“Only to the owner is it a charm. Good luck it might bring to any one, +but the owner of it will in some way bring happiness to others.” + +“I understand,” thoughtfully. “But stealin’ don’t make for ownership, +Loy.” + +“No.” + +“It’s still your elephant, Loy.” + +“Yes. No matter who has it--it is still mine, Jimmy.” + +“By golly, it was a fine elephant, so it was.” + +“It is,” corrected Loy softly. + +“That’s right. May the ---- fly away wid that cock-eyed Swede for takin’ +it. He wanted to hawg all the luck, so he did.” + +“Has it brought him luck?” + +Jimmy frowned thoughtfully. He knew that the elephant had not brought +Lars any luck. + +“Bein’ a thief kinda cooks your luck, Loy.” + +“Yes. Honesty is a good luck charm, Jimmy.” + +“Sure, you’re a queer Chink, Loy. You’re honest as ---- and ye’ve some +queer ideas of heaven and hell, but, I dunno.” + +“Because I believe that there is heaven in friendship?” + +Jimmy shook his head slowly and looked straight at Ng Loy. + +“No, Loy; that part of it is true--Gospel true.” + +“And to hate is to suffer torture, Jimmy.” + +Jimmy got to his feet and stowed away his pipe. + +“Well, I’ll be goin’ now, Loy. So long.” + + * * * * * + +It was several days later that a lone prospector came mushing up the +creek and stopped at Jimmy’s claim. He was heading across the divide, +but stopped to relate what news he had of the Outside. + +“Did ye see the Chink down at the forks?” asked Jimmy. + +“I seen the cabin, but there wasn’t any one around there. The door was +open, but the cabin looked kinda like nobody had been in there for a few +days. Yuh know what I mean--dirty dishes and all that.” + +“Sure, that’s queer,” observed Jimmy. “Ye say the door was open?” + +“Yeah. I looked in. Yuh know how a place looks when folks has been away +a few days.” + +They talked about other things and as soon as the man had gone, Jimmy +knocked off work and went down the creek, wondering what had happened +to Ng Loy. + +At the open door he met Lars. It was their first meeting since Lars had +left the cabin, but there was no sign of friendship in their attitude +toward each other. + +“Where’s Loy?” growled Jimmy. + +“Ay don’t seen him,” Lars shook his head. + +Jimmy turned and went down to the cut where Loy had been digging, with +Lars stumbling along behind him. + +And there they found Ng Loy. The Spring thaw had loosened the roots of +a big fir-tree on the slope above the cut and under this fallen monarch +they found Ng Loy. He had been dead for at least two days. + +“By gosh, das hard luck!” breathed Lars sorrowfully. + +Jimmy looked at Lars, his eyes filled with tears. + +“Hard luck, ye say? Who gave him the hard luck, I’d like to know. Ye +stole his luck, ye cock-eyed Swede!” + +Lars shook his head, like a wounded buffalo, and hunched close to Jimmy. + +“Das lie! You steal de luck yourself.” + +“Me!” + +Jimmy fell into a fighting crouch, his big hands opening and shutting +spasmodically. + +“Ye take that back, or I’ll massacree ye, Swede. Ye stole the luck of +the whole creek when ye took that elephant.” + +But Lars shook his head and glared at Jimmy. + +“Ay don’t want for to fight you,” he said slowly. “Ay am tire’ for +fighting. You go way.” + +“Me go away? And why in the ---- should I go away?” + +“Ay am feex up de poor Chink--me. Ay take him to de coast unt ship to +China.” + +“Oh, ye would, would ye? Ye would steal his luck and then ship him to +China, would ye? Well, I’m tellin’ ye that I’m goin’ to do that, Swede. +Hands off, that’s what I say to ye; and I’ll tend to me friend’s +remains.” + +Jimmy turned, picked up Ng Loy’s ax and began cutting away the tree. +Lars stood dumbly aside and watched him work, but when Jimmy had severed +the trunk of the tree, Lars stepped in and helped him lift it aside. + +“I don’t need yer help,” assured Jimmy hoarsely. “Pick up yer heavy feet +and go home.” + +“You can’t do dis all alone,” declared Lars. “It be a long ways to de +coast. Better we make box unt bury him until de snow come.” + +Jimmy mopped his brow and considered Lars’ words. It was a long way to +the coast, and he had no way of transporting the body. They could bury +Ng Loy now, exhume him after the snow came and take him out with the +dog-team. + +“W’at you t’ink?” queried Lars. + +“Sure, I was goin’ to do that,” said Jimmy, unwilling to concede the +suggestion. + + * * * * * + +It was a hard job to make the box, and it was nearly dark when it was +completed. + +“I’ll bury him on the point of the hill there by the big rock,” said +Jimmy. + +Lars secured the shovel and pick, but Jimmy demanded that he be allowed +to do the work. Lars followed him up the hill and stood aside, while +Jimmy cleared away the débris from beside the big rock. + +He wanted to place the box as close as possible to the outcropping of +granite, beside which was a pile of loose branches, moss and the +accumulation of years. Swiftly he yanked this aside with the point of +his pick, using it as a rake. + +As he started to drive the pick into the dirt, he stopped with the +pick raised above his head. He held the pose so long that Lars grunted +wonderingly and started forward. + +Then Jimmy dropped the pick behind him and fell to his knees, his right +hand open, fingers spread, as if afraid to pick up what he had seen. + +“Lars!” he croaked thickly. “Will ye look and tell me what ye see? Look +man, for the love of God!” + +Lars stumbled ahead, crouching almost to the ground. His lips worked +soundlessly as he stared at the débris. + +“Do ye see it?” breathed Jimmy. + +“Ay see dat elephant,” said Lars foolishly. + +With a swift, clutching movement, Jimmy sprang to his feet, holding the +ivory elephant. He staggered back, as if afraid some one might try to +take it from him, holding it close to him in both hands. + +“Das ---- pack-rat nest,” said Lars. + +Jimmy lifted his eyes and looked across at Lars, and for a space of +about ten seconds they stared at each other. + +“You cock-eyed Swede!” shouted Jimmy. “You didn’t steal it!” + +Lars shook his head and a smile flashed across his face. + +“Nor you didn’t, you wild Irishman! By gosh, I’m glad!” + +Together they sat down and examined the elephant, as if they had never +seen it before. They did not shake hands nor offer any apologies. But +they both knew. + +“It was good luck, Lars--” Jimmy turned his head and looked square +into Lars’ eyes--“but there must have been a lot of evil in that ---- +pack-rat. Loy said it was only good luck to its owner, but I dunno. + +“Loy still owns it, Lars; so we’ll bury it with him, if ye don’t mind.” + +“Dat be best,” nodded Lars. “Ve bury it with Ng Loy.” + +For a long time they sat on the side of the hill, while the long shadows +stretched down across Trinity forks and threw the little cabin into a +blend with the dark of the fir forests beyond it. + +They did not talk. It was as if they were resting after a long, long +toil. Lars’ huge hands were locked over his knees and on his big face +was an expression of wonder. + +“If Ng Loy was only here,” said Jimmy. + +“Ay vould like dat,” said Lars. “You betcha Ay vould like dat, Yimmy.” + +“And do ye remember he said that the owner of the elephant would bring +happiness to some one, Lars?” + +“I vonder ’bout dat, Yimmy. If he don’t die ve don’t find de +elephant--unt never be happy.” + +“Ye said it, Lars. Fate works in queer ways.” + +And they went down the slope in the twilight--partners again. + + +[Transcriber’s Note: This story appeared in the December 20, 1923 issue +of Adventure magazine.] +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78628 *** |